I just Beat The GMAT!

I have completed numerous practice test (Kaplan ranging from 520-620 and GMAT Prep 630 and 610). Today I took the real thing and received a 600 (Q39 V34).

What do you think? Should I take three months to review and re-test before the 2010 application cycle begins?

I would ideally like to go to: Berkeley, Columbia, NYU or LBS. My undergraduate GPA was 3.75 and I will have four years strategy consulting work experience.

Any suggestions?

jasongmat2010 wrote:I have completed numerous practice test (Kaplan ranging from 520-620 and GMAT Prep 630 and 610). Today I took the real thing and received a 600 (Q39 V34).

What do you think? Should I take three months to review and re-test before the 2010 application cycle begins?

I would ideally like to go to: Berkeley, Columbia, NYU or LBS. My undergraduate GPA was 3.75 and I will have four years strategy consulting work experience.

Any suggestions?

I would say yes but you have to intensely prepare in 3 months. There is no point in retaking the test until you are absolutely certain beyond a certain threshold that you can better your previous score by more than 75 points. Your goal is to search for parameters that enable you to make this determination. The problem with you is that your GPA stands out so if your GMAT doesn't, it may raise some red flags. So you need a GMAT score that measures up to that GPA, at least a 700. My advice to you is forget taking many test over and over in short time periods and get down to serious study and mastery of all sections of the GMAT. Examine all the Kaplan and Power preps you have taken and make a long list of all the reasons why you missed those questions. You know the questions you encountered on the test so you will be looking to master the skills and timing techniques needed for the GMAT. Identify how many of your misses are due to careless errors, insufficient timing and how many are content related- you just don’t have any clue how to solve the problem or answer the question. If your problem is content, then you have to study rigorously. I would begin by drilling every question or trick on the GMAT Prep and on Kaplan into my head. I mean if you are walking and are not thinking about the nuance of all these questions; if you don’t see PS, DS, CR, RC questions/problems coming at you from moving objects, roof tops, people’s sentences, TV, then you know you are not there yet. In short, if B-school is your goal then let it consume the 3 months ahead. Superficiality will not get you where you want.

Know that you are quite capable of getting 730 on the GMAT. You are the only judge of how bad you want it.

Now Soldier, assemble all your Boot Camp Took Kit And GO GET THEM GMAT!!

Thanks for the pointers. I am going to throw myself into the OG questions from all three books over the next three months, take MH cats and master the GMAT prep cat question. Any other recs?

What do you think of this 20 week timeline to improve 100 points!?

Target Date October 3

20 Weeks
• MH Geometry

19 Weeks
• Princeton Review Math Workout for the GMAT

18 Weeks
• MH Equations, Inequalities & VIC’s

17 Weeks
• 100 OG Questions (10/day workday and 25/day on weekend)

16 Weeks
• 100 OG Questions (10/day workday and 25/day on weekend)

15 Weeks
• 100 OG Questions (10/day workday and 25/day on weekend)

14 Weeks
• 100 OG Questions (10/day workday and 25/day on weekend)

13 Weeks
• 100 OG Questions (10/day workday and 25/day on weekend)

12 Weeks
• 100 OG Questions (10/day workday and 25/day on weekend)

11 Weeks
• 100 OG Questions (10/day workday and 25/day on weekend)

10 Weeks
• 100 OG Questions (10/day workday and 25/day on weekend)

9 Weeks
• MH Cat1 and Intense Review
• GMAT Prep Cat 1
• Weakness Review in OG Quant / OG Verbal Books

8 Weeks
• MH Cat2 and Intense Review
• GMAT Prep Cat 2
• Weakness Review in OG Quant / OG Verbal Books

7 Weeks
• MH Cat3 and Intense Review
• GMAT Prep Cat 3
• Weakness Review in OG Quant / OG Verbal Books

6 Weeks
• MH Cat4 and Intense Review
• GMAT Prep Cat 4
• Weakness Review in OG Quant / OG Verbal Books

5 Weeks
• MH Cat5 and Intense Review
• GMAT Prep Cat 5
• Weakness Review in OG Quant / OG Verbal Books

4 Weeks
• MH Cat6 and Intense Review
• GMAT Prep Cat 6
• Weakness Review in OG Quant / OG Verbal Books

3 Weeks
• GMAT 800
• Weakness Review in OG Quant / OG Verbal Books
•

2 Weeks
• GMAT 800
• Weakness Review in OG Quant / OG Verbal Books

1 Week
• No Studying!

Pretty intense schedule. Familiarizing yourself with all those problems and knowing how to solve them is key. In breaking them down, try to get into the test writer's mind. Why was the question asked? What skill is being tested? Do I master the required skill? Every GMAT question is testing something. The goal in doing this also is to think thru problem types that recur on the GMAT. You read a problem and right off the bat you know what they are trying to test. Try to make a list of these different problem types and recognize variations of them when you see them.

For example:

Averages: There are many ways these will come and try to master everyting about averages.

Rate of Work problems: Understand how to find work done in 1 hours. If james does something in 8 hrs, it means in 1 hr he does 1/8. This 1/8 is rate with the hr in the denominator. It can be multiplied by time.

Probability

Percentages/Proportion/fractions: Master 20% 40% 60% 80% in fractional forms and be able to move back and forth with speed.


Problems that require plain logic and reasoning with no formulas

Prime numbers and Exponents: Master how to manipulate numbers using prime factors: In fact Master solving fractions only in prime factors so that you see the LCM easily

11/60 + 5/80

11/2^2 x 3 x 5 + 5/2^4 x 5

From here you see you don't have to find the LCM separately since you have mentally written the numbers in their prime.


Know 2^2 ---2^10 and be able to write down these numbers without further calculation

Memorize (easy because a pattern emerges from about 19) the perfect squares of numbers from 1-30
Know the square root of 1-5, if possible extend it to 10

Summarize all the theorems and facts you know in geometry and be able to rattle them off head.

Very important ones:

Know how to recognize similar triangles and draw inferences from them.

Tangents to circle, arc lengths and their relation to central angles. Know the formulas for all most the accustomed geometric figures. Sphere, Cone, Trapezoid, Quadrilateral, Polygons their sides and interior angles, Rhombus and the important property that their diagonals are perpendicular. Volumes, areas, surface areas etc.


Relate problems you solve to skills mentioned above and many more and build a composite picture. Thinking abot what GMAT loves to test is very important because you remind yourself to master those tool kit.

If you are faithful to your plan you will succeed.

Again I cannot emphasize this enough. Don't see a single problem as just that : a problem. Stretch every problem to explore its nuance. Turn that problem inside out; change the numbers or some facts and discover some important aspects hidden behind the problem. It is not possible to cover all problems in the world, but by attacking problems this way, you firm your grasp of the principles behind all of these problems.

As an example take the following problem which is about the most difficult fractional or percentage problem the GMAT will ever ask

An equal number of boys and girls attended the senior prom. "
If 40% of the seniors who attended were girls and 30% of the non-seniors who attended were boys, what fraction of the girls were seniors?

Find out what is interesting about the problem?

Why is it different from the way you naturally want to approach it?

What are the common mistakes that people would make in solving it?

For example people might think that 60% of the seniors were boys? Why is this wrong and how can you avoid this kind of thinking?

Remember it is not how much you do, but the quality of work that you do.